The scent of roses swam up around me and I didn’t look, I knew Milly was awake and she was pissed.

Her magic flowed and struck with a deadly aim, pushing the demons back. She wasn’t killing them though.

“Milly, I know you want to hate them, but you need to let that go—you have to think of those you love. Of your baby. Then use your magic.”

She stepped beside me, tears tracking down her cheeks. “Of you, too, Rylee.”

Her power swept out in a bar of light and the demons cowered. To the other side of me, Pamela stood, her hands out, a smile on her lips.

“That’s the key, isn’t it?”

“I think so,” I whispered, snapping my whip out, curling it around a demon’s neck. There couldn’t be hate, and even though there was, it wasn’t the driving force. I did this for love, for those I loved. Not to gain vengeance to make Orion pay. I did this to keep those I cared for safe.

Bar after bar of light burst out of Pamela and Milly, driving the demons back, way back. Far out of reach of my weapons or Erik’s hands. The demons weren’t dying from the magical assault, there was too much anger in Pam and Milly, too much rage at being held captive. Not that I was going to complain. They were giving us a respite, holding the demons at bay.

“Rylee. The door isn’t going to open on its own. We’re stuck here,” Erik said. “And your girls, they will tire out sooner rather than later.”

“Liam will come through.” I stared at the archway.

“You are willing to bet your life on him?”

“Always.”

Draining Megan took close to ten minutes, her pale face dipped into a shade of white Liam had never seen on skin before. She still breathed though; her body was alive even if she’d been stripped of every drop of power she had.

“It is done,” Thomas said, his voice heavy with sorrow. “She had great potential, a shame she was tainted.”

“Open the veil.”

“Wolf, let me get to my feet! I know you think they will be there, and I will open the veil once, and once more only. If they are not there, I cannot open it again, not for days. And by then …” He lifted his brown eyes to Liam’s. “By then it will be too late.”

Clenching his hands into fists, Liam shook with fear, though by the look on Thomas’s face, the necromancer thought it a more aggressive emotion that claimed his body.

He could barely say the words. “Open the veil, she will be there.”

Never in his life had he been so afraid. Even when Pamela and he had been separated from Rylee and Alex in the underground palace, when the water had come and swept her away. Even then he’d thought perhaps there was some way she would make it. But this time it was too close to the end game; walking into Orion’s own territory, no matter the reason, was a death sentence. And he’d let her go.

He should have fought harder, should have made her see that Pamela and Milly were not as important as she was.

The veil sluggishly opened, the archway showing clearly. No one stood in it. A moment passed where he heard nothing and then … .

A deafening roar, the sounds of battle drove out of the opening, the scent of blood and magic lit up his senses.

“RYLEE!” He roared her name and then let out a howl he couldn’t hold back, the cry of a wolf for his mate.

“Liam!”

Everything happened so fast. Pamela and Alex came through first, and then … Erik?

“What the hell, I thought you were with the dragons?”

Erik’s eyes flicked over him and Liam caught a new scent. This wasn’t the Erik they’d left behind. What the hell was going on?

“Where’s Rylee?”

“Here.” She stepped up to the edge. “Don’t touch me, anyone. I’m covered in venom.”

Behind her, he saw Milly.

Worse, behind Milly stood a figure who could be only one person.

Orion.

Chapter 22

Like manna from heaven, the veil opened behind us. Liam howled my name and I felt another prophecy slide into place.

And the great wolf will howl her name … .

Giselle stepped away, lifted her hand and faded. “Love. That is what this is about. Remember that and look out for one another, my girls.”

The others went through, but Milly hesitated. “Rylee. I can’t leave. He has bound me again.”

Behind her strode a figure, cutting his way through the mass of lesser demons. There was no time to be gentle; we had to go.

“No, you have to come. Milly, he wants your baby.”

“I know. I will work for you from this side. I will slow him down. I won’t let him take my baby. I can’t leave, Rylee. He has me, there is no other way right now.” Her eyes glittered with unshed tears. “I have faith in you, and if I’m wrong and Orion possesses my baby, I know you will do what you must to stop him. You were always the strong one.”

I wanted to throw up with what she was saying, what she was asking of me. That I would kill her baby if necessary. Fuck me. “Just come with us. With me. Please.”

She reached under the side of her skirt and pulled out a sheaf of papers. “Take them, they were all I could get, but they should help.”

My fingers clenched around the thick paper and she stepped back, away from me. Away from the opening in the veil.

“Milly.” Her name choked in my throat. “Don’t do this.”

We were both crying, saying what I knew would be a final goodbye. I almost wished she hadn’t redeemed herself, wished she hadn’t come back into my life. It was easier to hate, far easier to hate than let someone go who you loved so dearly.

“Rylee, I love you the best, you have always fought for me, even when you shouldn’t have. Even when I wronged you. Let this be the way I fight for you, for the world. I am bound to him. I cannot leave. There is no other way for me.” Her green eyes sought mine and I knew she wasn’t lying. I knew in my heart, but that didn’t make it any easier.

“He’ll force us to face one another.”

She nodded and went to her knees. “Yes. I know. Go, Rylee. Sister of my heart, my one true friend. Go.”

Everything she said was truth, everything. I backed toward the opening and fell through it into what felt like a brilliantly sunny day. The veil snapped shut behind me.

Chaos was all around, talking over one another, Erik explaining what had happened, Pamela and Alex filling in the blanks. Megan lay beside me, and I gleaned from what I heard Frank say that she’d been a spy of sorts, infiltrating our ranks.